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Welcome to Episode 29 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring J.D. Kershaw, Vice President of Marketing for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Today's podcast combines a little of everything from our last few episodes: J.D. was a former hockey player who learned quickly that he wanted to move to the business side of the sport. One of my favorite parts of the conversation was about this transition; since he was still in shape and a strong player, he would work out with the San Jose Sharks - the club that offered him his first off-ice role - and he said that he was immediately pegged as a "hockey guy." J.D. was more interested in the business side than "hockey ops," however, so he had to make a conscious effort not to pigeon-hole himself early in his career. After a later stint with NHL Europe overseas, J.D. - via an assist from his wife! - relocated to the U.S. to help launch the Columbus Blue Jackets. He hasn't looked back since. It was great to hear about Columbus the city, and how it surprises and impresses the national media and visitors every chance it gets (All-Star Game, NHL Draft, etc.). J.D. was a blast, and his insight into marketing a team without a consistent tradition of winning (yet!) and in a smaller, non-traditional hockey market was fascinating. Big thanks both to J.D. and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling. This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.